Earthworking machines, such as track-type tractors, are used to move earth for various purposes, e.g., shape terrain to desired contours, remove overburden to expose ore, and the like. An earthworking implement movably attached to the earthworking machine, for example a bulldozer blade, is used to perform the work.
Earthworking blades have been designed to achieve productive and efficient results from the work being performed. Among the desired design characteristics are various mounting structures, both for the blade and for hydraulic cylinders used to control movement of the blade. Typically, however, the designed structures must conform to physical constraints, which limits the degrees of freedom, i.e., motion, of the blade.
For example, typical earthworking blades on track-type tractors are configured for three degrees of freedom, while a fourth degree of freedom is compromised to maintain the structural integrity of the apparatus under heavy load conditions. For example, a blade structure may be configured to allow lift, tilt, and angle motions, but pitch motion is only accessible by changing the mounting position of the blade. Other blades may have lift, tilt, and pitch motions, but sacrifice angle motion to allow the blade to push very heavy loads.
It is often desired to have a blade configuration, including the configuration of the hydraulic control cylinders, which allows four degrees of freedom, i.e., lift, pitch, tilt, and angle, in a work environment.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems as set forth above.